Karnataka budget is visionless, says Opposition

Terming the State Budget as visionless, the Opposition said that it would have a retrograde effect on the State’s development.

Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Jagadish Shettar said that the Chief Minister had disappointed the people who had high expectations of the first full-fledged budget being presented by Siddaramaiah after he assumed charge as Chief Minister.

No important schemes has been taken up, he said and ridiculed Mr. Siddaramaiah for earmarking only Rs. 1,000 crore for the development of the backward Hyderabad Karnataka region. “The Chief Minister should have showed his commitment to the development of this region by earmarking a minimum of Rs. 10,000 crore,” he said.

He also took exception to the reduction in allocation for implementation of the D.M. Nanjundappa committee’s recommendations for reducing regional imbalance.

Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council D.V. Sadananda Gowda said that the budget lacked clarity in most of the proposals.

Janata Dal (Secular) Floor Leader and former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy said that “it is very clear from the nature of proposals included in the budget that Mr. Siddaramaiah has failed to study different departments and devote quality time on preparing the budget.”

BJP leader and former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa took exception to not including the broader version of the Shaadi Bhagya scheme in the budget.